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July 26th, 2010
$5.19
The success of books such as Elaine Pagels’s Gnostic Gospels and Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity – truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia.
In Forbidden Faith, Richard Smoley narrates a popular history of one such truth, the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, which flourished between the first and fourth centuries A.D., but whose legacy remains even today, having survived secretly throughout the ages.
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This is an excellent book, and functions as a survey of the ramifications of gnosticism over the centuries and up to the present day, dipping into such esoterica as the divine cobbler Jacob Boehme and the anti-gnostic Eric Voegelin. Many of the treatments are maddeningly short, but Smoley’s reach is admirably broad. Modern examples include Carl Jung, the Matrix, and the Da Vinci code.
But not a word about Scientology! Here is perhaps the most intense and religious re-appropriation of gnostic thought in the modern world. Sure, it is a cult founded by a greedy charlatan. Sure, it might be a danger to life and limb to deal with them disparagingly in a book such as this. Yet it seems essential to include them in this kind of survey, since their theology is lifted practically wholesale from the Gnostic legacy and updated with exotic science fiction alien over-gods and gnosis-detecting “clear”-o-meters.
Rating: 5 / 5
I found the book well written and very educational. It was exactly what I was looking for when I ordered the book. Gnosticism has captured my curiosity for a long time. The book gives a good historical evolution of gnosticism
Rating: 5 / 5
Infamous Eve: A History
I found Smoley’s “Forbidden Faith” insightful. The part about the Gnostic idea of not belonging to this world and therefore not being any segment of the groups who are expecting some apocalyptic resolution to fix it was perhaps a bit confusing. His explanations of the original Gnostic ideas tends to be misleading to those who do not understand that gnosis is the metaphysical practice of knowing there is more to ourselves than what our physical senses lead us to believe.
Not belonging to this world relates to our souls coming to this plane to learn through limited sensory perception. This is not the world of our soul, but it is not a place to be denigrated. Rather it is a temporary home for souls to direct energy to raise Universal Consciousness. Each soul comes into the Earth plane to carry out a mission. It comes forth, it creates, it designs, and it causes actions because it is to experience, learn, and express its “self”.
Those who do practice gnosis are making an effort to have conscious contact with powers greater than themselves to gain emotional security that adds to the Universal Consciousness and they also take actions to resolve our current life problems in the here and now rather than look for a resolution caused by God ending this world’s existence or by elevating their mental consciousness to the level of not caring.
May Sinclair, PhD, Author, Infamous Eve, A History
Rating: 4 / 5
I’ve read several books on Gnosticism. Some academics seem to think that these ideas only exist in words in books. I became interested in Gnosticism after having a few mystical experiences myself, and knew Gnosis was an experience and not just “ideas.” This (copyright 2006) has the best overview of Gnostic and Gnostic related thought through western history and other books on Gnosticism I’ve seen. While it is not clear what actual experiences Smoley has had, he is clear that this subject is about religious experiences and not just theories, and that the history of western religion has largely been an issue of the scribes and pharisees vs the mystics. So far the pharisees have taken over every religion in the west. But he offers hope. Quite insightful.
Rating: 5 / 5
If you have an interest in the development of Christianity, the Western Mystery Tradition or heresiology, this book by Richard Smoley proves to be an interesting read.
The book itself is written at a level where only a basic knowledge of Christian history and theology is required to get a grasp of the thesis of the book. Smoley takes the reader through nearly 2200 years of Gnostic thought and history, starting with Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism and running through modern times, including the popular perceived offshoots such as the Albigensian Cathars, the Rosicrucians, the Freemasons, the Knights Templar all the way to Jung, Blavatsky, the DaVinci Code and the Matrix.
While he tries to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short book, you get the flavor of Gnostic themes as an ever evolving, ever present element interweaving itself through Christian history. Smoley discusses not only the history, but the theology and the psychology of the various Gnostic themes, explores and discusses common information like the Nag Hammadi library and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as reviews basic mainstream Christian theology in a compare and contrast exercise including a look at “mainstream” Christian (both Western and Orthodox) mysticism and prayer practices.
If you have an interest in this topic, this is a good read.
Rating: 5 / 5